Tefillin are a ritual phylacteries used in the morning prayer service or shacharit. Essentially, it is a pair of black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment with biblical verses. When donning or wrapping teffilin, one box is wrapped around the fore-arm and the fingers, shel yad, while is other is placed on the forehead, shel rosh. Wrapping tefillin is considered a mitzvot or a commandment of God per the Torah and coupled with my interest of becoming more observant, I visited in tefillin factory in northern Jerusalem to inquire about purchasing a pair.
In order to keep tefillin sturdy and true, therefore kosher or holy, the manufacturing process is very labor intensive. With the intent of minimizing the use of glue, a piece of cow’s hide is literally folded like origami to create four individual compartments to house the parchments. The parchment, made from goat hide, is hand scribed with the greatest care for detail and accuracy. I have attached pictures of the various stages of the manufacturing process.
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